Thomas Mikkelsen
Thomas Mikkelsen was an author of comedic fanfics written in quasi-script form. He was most active in 2000 and 2001.
Fan History
Mikkelsen's work is best known for its scriptfic, on-canon depictions of Daria episodes. In addition, Mikkelsen was probably the best known of the early fanfiction prescriptivists. Mikkelsen believed that, among other things, that Daria fan fiction should be exactly like the show, or as close as possible. This meant that his stories:
- were generally comedies, as Mikkelsen eschewed drama or melodrama as being atypical of the light comedy style of episodes
- did not develop the characters beyond what would have been considered acceptable in the series
- eschewed the use of alternate universes or settings outside of Lawndale
- had plots generally evocative of the ordinary lives of high school students, or of the well-established relationships between Daria and her friends and family.
Mikkelsen passionately stated that if a story violated any of these general guidelines, it could not be considered Daria fanfiction. His argument was that one could not change what had been established in the episodes to suit one's own needs in writing fanfiction.
With the conclusion of the series in 2002, Mikkelsen wrote his final work of fanfiction. True to his belief that without the show, there was no point in pursing Daria fandom, Mikkelsen disappeared, and has only rarely reappeared on message boards.
Trivia
- Thomas Mikkelsen was one of CINCGREEN's favorite authors, which helped bring Mikkelsen to the attention of the overall fandom. In CINCGREEN's opinion, Mikkelsen's canon depictions were the closest one could come to a Daria episode without Glenn Eichler writing it.
- When Martin Pollard opened his Featured Authors list (later changed to Recommended Authors) to fan nominations, Mikkelsen's work was the first such work nominated.